Before we get into being all thankful for family and friends and caffeine and stuff, let’s complain about all the stuff you hate dealing with.
From a WSJ article on why we still hate the airline industry (shocker!), here is a list of what good and services Americans are least satisfied with. Based on the American Consumer Satisfaction Index survey.
Let’s see what I think about the top 5:
- Internet Service Providers: Well, they do charge a lot for very mediocre speed and the reliability has been spotty recently. Not to mention they keep fighting Net Neutrality. I wish I had Google Fiber.
- Internet Social Media: I’m not really sure what this means. I am not very active on Twitter nor Facebook. MMB commenters are all smart and good-looking, but reading the internet comments on major news sites like CNN does make me sad about humanity.
- Subscription Television Service: My inability to let go of live sports is certainly costing me a bundle, but cable TV hasn’t actively pissed me off… this year. Well, wait, my laggy DVR does appear designed in 1994 with a 386 processor.
- Airlines: I know that there are hardworking folks in the airline industry, but I just had an entire conversation with a Delta gate agent and they didn’t make eye contact even once. Why provide good service when everyone hates you anyways seems to be the attitude. The problem is that selling cheaper airfare with lots of gotcha add-ons is that it works and they are now making good money. Sigh. I can’t believe people haven’t revolted yet on how seat pitch keeps decreasing every freakin’ year.
- Wireless Telephone Service: I have no real complaints. There are many options now if you want to avoid full-price, full-service cellular carriers. Basic cell phone service can be pretty darn cheap these days. I guess I’m just still amazed by what my smartphone can do with a data plan while I’m in the middle of nowhere.
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My biggest problem with the internet service providers is their advertising when they say you can get X Mbps, but this is only actually available to about 1% of people who are within a certain distance! Huge false advertising as far as I’m concerned…
There’s no excuse for the DL gate agent to not make eye contact, but people want everything. Big seat pitch, priority boarding, no baggage fees, good food, free drinks, and cheap tickets. Fares in Y are so much cheaper than the days everyone is comparing them to. If you want the extras, pay for F, J, or premium economy. It’s not that you can’t get what you want anymore, you just have to….pay the same amount you used to. If you don’t care about anything except the price, then remember when you board and fly that you “don’t care” about anything except the price.
2GB data caps on most mobile phone data plans is ridiculous. Data plan pricing schemes keep most people from realizing the full potential of their smartphones.
As part of ISP’s fight against net neutrality, they would also like to impose data caps on home internet service. Because they want to hurt online streaming services and keep cable TV relevant so that you are stuck overpaying for their service and unable to cut the cord. There is good profit renting cable boxes and DVR’s, not to mention bogus HD service charges. If the Comcast-Time Warner merger is allowed to go through we will most certainly see data caps on home internet.
Jonathan – funny post!
Hard to see how the race-to-the-bottom with airlines is not solved with some level of government regulation. We should be on our own with refreshments of course (bring your own food and an empty bottle with you and fill up at the tap once you are past security). We should also pay for bags (I just traveled on Frontier recently with only my under-seat bag for a song) but the seat pitch thing is at a point where it has to stop. I’m 6’2 and on a long-haul, coach is pretty rough. I understand that being tall generally is a bonus in life but at some point this is a form of unfair discrimination for something I was born with (albeit very minor in the scheme of types of discrimination!). This seems to warrant some sort of minimal protection from the government for the benefit of not just us tallish folk but the whole population.